9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

4281. That by “the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint in his wrestling with him,” is signified that this conjunction was wholly injured and displaced in Jacob’s posterity, is evident from the signification of being “out of joint” in the sense in question, as being to be displaced, and thus to be injured. That the “hollow of the thigh” denotes conjunction, is manifest from what was said above (n. 4280); and because in the Word “Jacob” denotes not only Jacob, but also all his posterity, as is evident from many passages in the Word (Numbers 23:7, 10, 21, 2 23:23; 24:5, 1 24:17, 19; Deuteronomy 33:10; Isaiah 40:27; 43:1, 22; 44:1-2, 21; 48:12; 59:20; Jeremiah 10:16, 25; 30:7, 10, 18; 31:7, 11; 46:27-28; Hosea 10:11 Amos 7:2; Micah 2:12; 3:8; Psalms 14:7; 24:6; 59:13; 78:5; 99:4 and elsewhere).

[2] That Jacob and his posterity were of such a character that with them celestial and spiritual love could not be conjoined with natural good (that is, the internal or spiritual man with the external or natural man), is manifest from everything which is related of that nation in the Word; for they did not know, nor were they willing to know, what the internal or spiritual man is, and therefore this was not revealed to them; for they believed that nothing exists in man except that which is external and natural. In all their worship they had regard to nothing else, insomuch that Divine worship was to them no otherwise than idolatrous; for when internal worship is separated from external, it is merely idolatrous. The church that was instituted with them was not a church, but only the representative of a church; for which reason that church is called a representative church. That a representative of a church is possible with such people may be seen above (n. 1361, 3670, 4208).

[3] For in representations the person is not reflected upon, but the thing which is represented; and therefore Divine, celestial, and spiritual things were represented not only by persons, but also by inanimate things, as by Aaron’s garments, the ark, the altar, the oxen and sheep that were sacrificed, the lampstand with its lamps, the bread of arrangement upon the golden table, the oil with which they were anointed, the frankincense, and other like things. Hence it was that their kings, the evil as well as the good, represented the Lord’s royalty; and the high priests, the evil as well as the good, represented the things that belong to the Lord’s Divine priesthood, when they discharged their office in an outward form according to the statutes and precepts. In order therefore that the representative of a church might come forth among them, such statutes and laws were given them by manifest revelation as were altogether representative; and therefore so long as they were in them and observed them strictly, so long they were able to represent; but when they turned aside from them, as to the statutes and laws of other nations, and especially to the worship of another god, they then deprived themselves of the faculty of representing. For this reason they were driven by outward means, such as captivities, disasters, threats, and miracles, to laws and statutes truly representative; but not by internal means, as are those who have internal worship in external. These things are signified by the “hollow of Jacob’s thigh being out of joint,” taken in the internal historical sense, which regards Jacob and his posterity.

7442. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with the noisome fly, and also the land whereon they are. That this signifies that the falsities of malevolence will take possession of all things of the natural mind, is evident from the signification of “filling,” as being to take possession of; from the signification of “the house of the Egyptians,” as being the interiors of the natural mind (of which above, n. 7407); from the signification of “the noisome fly,” as being falsities of malevolence ((7441) of which just above, n. 7441); and from the signification of “the land of Egypt,” as being the natural mind in general (see n. 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301).

[2] How it is that the interiors also of the natural mind shall be taken possession of by the falsities of evil which are in the outermost parts of this mind, must be briefly told. The things that flow in with man through heaven from the Lord, flow into his interiors, and advance down to the ultimates or outermost parts, and there they are presented to man in a sensible form, consequently they flow down into the sensuous, and through this into the things of the body. If the sensuous has been filled with phantasies from fallacies and appearances, and especially if it has been filled with phantasies from falsities, then the truths which flow in are there turned into similar things, for they are received there according to the form that is induced on them (see n. 7343). Insofar also as truths are turned into falsities, so far the interiors through which they pass are closed, and at last there is no opening beyond that which is necessary for a sufficient transflux to confer the faculty of reasoning, and of confirming evils by means of falsities.

[3] Such being the case with man, it must needs be that while he is being regenerated his natural must be regenerated down to the sensuous; for unless this is regenerated, there is no reception of truth and good, because, as before said, the inflowing truth is there perverted, and then the interiors are closed. And therefore when the exteriors have been regenerated, the whole man has been regenerated, as was signified by the Lord’s words to Peter when He washed his feet:

Simon Peter said unto Him, Lord, wash Thou not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, He that hath been bathed needeth not save to have his feet washed, and is clean every whit (John 13:9-10);

by the “feet” are signified natural things (n. 2162, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952); by “washing” is signified purifying (n. 3147, 5954); by “hands” are signified the interiors of the natural; and by the “head” spiritual things; hence is plain what is meant by “him that hath been bathed needing only to have his feet washed, and being clean every whit,” namely, that a man has already been regenerated when he has been regenerated also in respect to the exteriors that belong to the natural. When therefore man has been regenerated also in respect to the natural, then all things therein have been made subordinate to the more interior things; and when these flow in there, they flow as into their generals, by which they present themselves to man in a sensible form. When this is the case with a man, he sensibly feels the affection of the truth that is of faith, and the affection of the good that is of charity.

[4] But the sensuous itself, which is the ultimate of the natural, can with difficulty be regenerated, because it has been filled with material ideas from things earthly, bodily, and worldly. Therefore the man who is being regenerated, especially at this day, is not regenerated as to the sensuous, but as to the natural which is next above the sensuous, to which he is elevated by the Lord from the sensuous, when he is thinking about the truths and goods of faith. The man who is being regenerated by the Lord is endowed with the capacity of elevation from the sensuous. With respect to the nature of the sensuous, and the elevation of the thought above it, see n. 5084, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310, 6311, 6313, 6314, 6316, 6318, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949.)